Red RC » Electric

January 31, 2014

Day 1 belongs to Hagberg

Day 1 of the second round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series belonged to Alexander Hagberg, the Team Xray driver backing up his practice pace with a very convincing TQ run in the opening round of qualifying at the German event. With even Marc Rheinard complimenting the Swede’s performance calling it ‘impressive’, Hagberg’s closest challenger was Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper who was some 1.8 seconds adrift. While Freddy Sudhoff completed the Top 3, it was a tough start to qualifying for defending Champion Ronald Volker as the Round 1 dominator managed only the 8th fastest time.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

January 31, 2014

Hagberg top seed for qualifying

Alexander Hagberg will lead away the top heat in qualifying this evening at Round 2 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series after the Xray driver was fastest in timed practice at the Muelheim-Kaerlich event. Having set the pace in the first timed practice over defending Champion Ronald Volker, the Swede was able to improve his 3-consecutive fastest laps by .085 of a second in the final practice while his closest rivals failed to better their early times. Hagberg becomes the first driver to top Volker this season, the Yokomo driver having completely dominated the season opener in the Czech Republic, a result albeit only practice will be a big boost for the former race winner who had a disappointing 2012/13 season of ETS.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

January 31, 2014

Exclusive – Atsushi Hara confirmed at SWorkz

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mETDFZv3PM[/youtube]

With lots of speculation over his future since announcing his departure from HB/HPI last August we again talked exclusively with Atsushi Hara and can confirm ahead of its official announcement that he has signed for Speedmaster, parent brand of SWorkz. Having tested many brands of car and talked with numerous companies he finally decided on the Taiwanese company as he feels they offer him the best opportunities for his future going forward, not just for racing. One of the factors influencing the deal was the connection with A-Main Hobbies, a personal sponsor of his but with some big developments in the pipeline between the Taiwanese brand and the US online power house we can expect to see the brand receive a bigger push in the US and Worldwide. In terms of the car, he says that while it needs some work to get the performance up to scratch, the quality is top notch and going forward he will have an updated car for this year’s Worlds in Italy. In our interview Hara also confirmed that he will race for Yokomo in the remaining ETS rounds as well as the TITC and the World Championships in Florida in what is a per race contract.

View the official statement from Speedmaster here

January 31, 2014

Hagberg tops first timed practice at ETS

Hagberg tops first time practice at ETS

Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg set the pace in the opening round of timed practice at the Yokomo Euro Touring Series, the Swede the fastest over consecutive laps from defending Champion Ronald Volker. The second round of the championship, the German event marks the return of Atsushi Hara to international touring car competition, the former world Champion getting his debut for Yokomo off to a steady start with the 8th fastest time.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

January 30, 2014

Atsushi Hara joins Hobbywing

Hobbywing have announced the signing of 2000 IFMAR World Champion Atsushi Hara to use their ESC and motors for the 2014 season. Making his debut at this weekends ETS Rd2, having signed a deal with Yokomo to compete in the series, the Japanese star had the following to say:

I am very excited to join Hobbywing team in 2014! A very special thanks to Jack, Michael and Salton for the excellent offer. I’m looking forward to the ISTC Worlds coming in this October. We will show huge performance for this event!

Source: Hobbywing [hobbywing.com]

January 30, 2014

2014 Keilor Stock Shootout report

Every January for the past 5 years, the Keilor club in Melbourne have hosted the ‘Stock Shootout’, an event exclusively for 17.5T buggies and 10.5T trucks. 66 entries were received for this unique event, which was held on a brand new track layout the club members had worked hard to complete over the New Year break. The layout had fast sweepers, technical infield, big elevation changes and a challenging jump rhythm section to test man and machine. With no practice before the event, there was no home club advantage and with strong competition in all classes it was an intense weekend of racing.

Continue reading the report here

January 30, 2014

Adrian Berntsen continues with Xray for 2014

Adrian Berntsen renews contract with Xray

Xray have announced that European Junior champion Adrian Berntsen will continue to race the 2014 season with the Xray team. Adrian is focused on the on-road TC class and as such will race the T4 and participate at the major races during the season. The 2013 DHI Cup winner had this to say:

I’m really happy to re-sign my contract with Xray and continue to use Xray high-quality products throughout the next seasons. After coming back to Xray, I’ve achieved my best international results ever and I work hard to continuously improve. I can’t wait to continue cooperate with the best R&D team throughout the next seasons and hopefully achieve many more nice results.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

January 29, 2014

Hara rejoins ETS with Yokomo deal

RC racing legend Atsushi Hara will make a return to the Yokomo Euro Touring Series after concluding a deal with reigning champions Yokomo to contest this weekend’s (31st Jan – 2nd Feb) second round in Germany. A two time ETS race winner, Hara has signed with the Japanese manufacturer to also contest Round 3 of the world famous touring car championship which takes place on the Spanish holiday Island of Gran Canaria in March. Teaming up with three time series champion & Round 1 winner Ronald Volker and race winner Yannic Prumper, this will be the 2006 World Champions first competitive ETS outing since Apeldoorn in 2012. One of world’s most popular racers, as highlighted by the reaction when he drove in the ‘Dash for Cash’ in the season finale last year at the Hudy Arena, ETS Round 2 will be Hara’s first international touring car event since his departure from HB/HPI Racing last August. Also joining Hara for the weekend at Yokomo will be 1:8 offroad rival and reigning World Champion Robert Batlle who will make his touring car debut at the Muelheim-Kaerlich event.

Continue reading the announcement here